Packard Forum Index » Pre-War (1899-1942)

Have the rad. off my 626 to be recored and would like to put a new solid fan belt on to replace a linkbelt. Book says to remove vib. dampener to get belt on. How is this done. My repair book shows the later version that has a water pump on the front of the block and belt pulley on the front of the vib. dampener. My engine has the side water pump and crank pulley is behind the vib. dampener. Understand the hand crank nut must be removed and maybe the four 3/8" bolts but what then? There is only about 1/4" between the front crossmember and dampener.

The vibration damper bolts to the face of the fan pulley and is located centrally by a spigot that penetrates the VD by only about 3/16". Remove the hand crank nut then the 4 bolts and it should come off reasonably easily. Be careful not to lever off the fan pully flange where the belt runs as it is likely to be very thin and easy to break.
Incidentally my 2 1929 Standard Eights have front mounted water pumps and have front mounted vibration dampers, in my opinion the drawing in the book is wrong, I have never seen one with the VD behind the fan pulley.
David Australia

I was told that the front-mounted water pump was the first version. The "side winder" was retrofitted to most because the front-mounted pump was such a poor design. We had a 1929 633 phaeton with the front pump, and rebuilt it three or four times within two year's time.

A big thanks for the information. Everything came apart just as advised. Anyone have a correct fan belt size, Gates or NAPA number?

Glad it came off OK.
I do not know which came first the front mounted or side mounted pumps but I agree that the front mounted is a very poor design caused by having to fit the pump into too little space. Adjusting the gland nut is awkward at best and normal gland leakage drips onto the vibration damper rusting the internals and locking it up.
My cars now have modern sealed bearings and modern ceramic faced seals which are now working fine with zero leakage.

Hi all, I was under the impression that the side mounted water pump was used on the early Sixth Series because it had the same size engine bay as the 5th Series Six. The side mounted pump allowed the Eight engine to fit. I'm not at all sure if this is true but, I shall measure the 5th Series engine bay tomorrow ( from firewall to radiator). It would be good to compare the engine bay size to a Sixth Series with side and with front mounted water pump. I have a few Sixth Series Eight engines with side pumps and it would be interesting to know. Best Regards Peter Toet.

Hi all, The length of the 5th Series bonnet is 37 inches, along the hinge at the top. The internal space from firewall to radiator is also 37 inches. Could someone please measure a 6th Series (626,633) bonnet and internal firewall to radiator core( specify if side or front mounted pump) for comparison. It may help resolve why Packard used a side mounted water pump in the early 6th Series. Best regards Peter Toet.

Peter, the bonnet hinge length on both of my 6th Series cars (633) is 38 1/4" and about the same distance from firewall to radiator. Both cars have front mounted water pumps.
I guess you are wondering whether the earlier 6th Series cars used side pumps and the same length bonnet and engine bay as your 5th series.
I don't know but I just checked the parts book and it lists only one part number for the 626/633 bonnet assembly for each body style. (The open car bonnets have the swage line in a different location to the closed cars)
And by way of trivia the Packard parts book calls them "bonnets" not "hoods"!
David McCredie